The Vicar of Abchurch

At the end of his working life, a vicar in the City of London thinks of himself as a failure: no one now seems to treasure the beliefs and religious practices of his youth; the church hierarchy is seemingly obsessed only with modern marketing and business methods which he doesn’t appreciate; and any love between him and his wife has long since vanished. Lacking any personal ambition, he takes on a rundown church and conducts his ministry there in the only way he knows: with understanding, compassion and Christian forgiveness. But in a few short months, the very building and its circumstances change him and his wife forever.

The Mother of My Children

In the early 1990s, within the fictional town of Mahogany, India, a tale of love, family, and personal transformation unfolds. Adam’s adoration for his wife, Mary, knows no bounds, leading him to embark on a remarkable endeavor—a book dedicated to her. But this is no ordinary love story; it delves into Mary’s evolution from cherished wife to the irreplaceable mother of their children. What could have influenced this humble woman from a small town to elicit such profound devotion?

The Mother of My Children weaves a captivating narrative set against the backdrop of tragedy, survival, and the unyielding spirit of an ordinary woman who refused to abandon those she held dear. Adam’s heartfelt words paint a vivid portrait of a woman who, faced with unimaginable challenges, became a beacon of hope for her family. This evocative tale celebrates the power of love and resilience, inviting readers to contemplate the transformative influence of an unassuming woman who defied societal norms and discovered strength through unwavering devotion.

The Luggage Lifter

Meet Harold, a young man who occupies a room in a bleak tenement in the edgy Blitz-damaged East End. Harold’s good humour and air of optimism belie the unfortunate circumstances which blighted his childhood, left him orphaned and shaped his view of the world. An intelligent, resourceful and amiable character, operating around the London hotels and railway stations, he turns luggage lifting into an art form. When he discovers a stash of letters in a leather steamer, an act of kindness sets off a chain of events which gathers its own momentum and leads to romance. But the escalation in his criminal activities, together with the finding of a large haul of used banknotes can only spell trouble. The attention of the police and the menace of the Moretti brothers, who claim the money, coincide, and arrest seems a safer outcome for Harold. He survives a prison term but soon learns that shaking off his unresolved past is more difficult, especially when trying to do the right thing leads to complications in his love life. Just when a sense of well-being beckons, matters spiral out of control and push Harold to the brink…

Someone Like You

What do you do when you're 17 and you find out you're pregnant? How do you tell your friends, your family? How do you decide what to do? Meet Amy. Amy is your neighbour, your friend, your cousin, Amy is just like someone you know. When Amy is 17, she finds out she is pregnant. This turns her seemingly average life upside down. In her final year of school and trying to figure out where to go next with her life, Amy must make a decision that, no matter what, will stay with her forever.

Skimmer - Deep Sea

A contractor sub-surface mining skiff is delivering deep sea minerals collected by its drones to the moonpools of a giant Chinese-owned GlobeCorpMining Harvester ship stationed in the Pacific Ocean. The artificial intelligence or AI operating the skiff and its drones is monitored by a small young crew. Onboard, one of them with family connections to mining in ‘the Area’ is coerced into acquiring a revolutionary AI technology being developed by another crew member. It becomes apparent that Xed Ocean Academy crew monitoring and communications security has been compromised. Another mining skiff has also disappeared off ‘the Area’ grid. As the situation becomes ever more desperate no one seems to know who is behind all the deception and why. Somehow the Sea Hunters who patrol ‘the Area’ and GlobeCorpMining are also involved. Against the odds, and with the Sea Hunters in pursuit the young crew must learn to work together and overcome betrayal.

Reincarnation For Beginners

Happiness is all about being who you want to be and believing in who you think you are. In the plot of Reincarnation for Beginners, there are brave souls who pursue this goal no matter what others may think or say about them!

In this story there are those who reinvent themselves or actually believe themselves to be Elvis, Gandhi, Napoleon, Florence Nightingale and Marilyn Monroe.

This book is a revolution of a read. Go on the march brothers, sisters, and everyone else. Find yourself and then flaunt it!

Perhaps a Jealous Foe

The action begins in 2000 with Louise looking at her past. Then it moves back to 1970, where Louise has everything a contemporary woman could ask for: a loving husband, two children, a beautiful home, a good social life. The family is comfortably off, and while her life is circumscribed by her domestic duties and her involvement with the church, she is content with her lot.

Then, she meets Nicholas, and everything changes. While Nicholas makes his attraction to Louise obvious from the outset, he is apparently as conventional as Louise and too inhibited to proceed with more than flirtation and verbal innuendo. 

The relationship between Louise and Nicholas develops slowly, because of the lack of opportunity, and because Nicholas seems unable to make up his mind what he really wants. When they finally make love, all is not quite as Louise had expected. Nicholas eventually also admits to the secret in his past which Louise has discovered by chance.

The story reaches its climax in a night of passion in which Louise, changes her mind, and exults in having finally got the man she loves so much.

Finally, the story returns to 2000, where the aftermath of that night is revealed.

Mykonos and Athena – A Furry Tale

Harry Parkman is a high-flying management consultant with an apartment in Chelsea and a beautiful girlfriend who wants to marry him. His life trajectory seems fixed until he finds two desperately sick kittens whilst holidaying in the Greek Islands. Having spent a lifetime avoiding cats because of a childhood allergy, he cannot leave them for dead. Harry saves the kittens and in so doing, embarks on a journey that saves himself.

A heart-warming adventure for anyone who has loved a pet more than people.

Making Old Bones

Gramwell Glade is Making Old Bones.

A care home, purpose built around a Georgian folly castle façade in Essex, Gramwell Glade is making a fortune for business developer Akin Akindele who, armed with an MBA foresaw that high end care homes were going to return significant returns on his investment.

It’s Making Old Bones of Pauline Graves’ career since moving from hospitality to head up the staff at Gramwell Glade and putting her misplaced hopes in a liaison with Akindele.

It’s Making Old Bones of the dedicated carers who support its sundowners while supporting their own families on the small fiscal returns their efforts bring on the ‘living wage’.

It’s laying old bones to rest. For many of the residents their time at Gramwell Glade is their first experience of surrender when it comes to real life responsibilities. That onus now falls to their ‘children’ who now have their parents’ Powers of Attorney and who are handing over the funds that would otherwise satisfy a mortgage sufficiently large enough to buy their own castle.

If we know someone who works in the care sector or spends their twilight years in a home, if we visit family or friends who have moved on into residential care, make no bones about it, something like the Gramwell Glade experience could come to us all.

Mabel Murphy

It’s 1920s London and the world is in a deep economic depression. Times are very hard and the city is rife with unemployment, poverty and disease. One family in East London
have managed to keep themselves afloat, housed and fed, despite having one parent with a long-term mental health condition, but that is all about to change as their teenage daughter is catapulted into a series of life events which are traumatic, heartbreaking and shocking but which make her become a much stronger and more resilient human being than she ever dreamed possible.
This is a harrowing story of innocence, shame, hostility and vicious cruelty from the very people who should be caring for those in need, but it is tempered with love, hope and the potential to change one’s situation given the right opportunities.
Although fictional, this was a true story for many women of that time and is based on several older women whom the author met and supported whilst an NHS nurse in the large hospital system.

Laura's Year

In January 1976, it is an excited, but nervous family of four who board a Jumbo jet, to leave England to begin a new life in a small town, on the Persian Gulf in Iran.

Adrian, an ex-Royal Naval Officer, thought this new job in Iran would be a chance to earn big money, and although neither parent had wanted to disrupt their children’s education, they thought it was worth the risk, giving them both valuable life experiences, and a chance to see ‘something of the world.’

Once settled in their new home, with the children happily enrolled in an excellent international school, they immediately made friends with like-minded ex-pats, and got involved in an active and well-established social scene, with parties and functions most weekends, and daily trips to their ‘club’ in town, which housed a bar, and swimming pool.

Caroline and Alex, having made friends at school, as well as with some local children, who lived in mud huts, in the desert at the end of their road, also seemed happy with their lot, but Laura becomes pregnant, which threatens to disrupt their idyllic lives, and events that followed, appear to have changed Laura’s, once devoted and loving husband’s feelings towards her.

But, had Laura changed? And that was why her previously, caring husband didn’t fancy her anymore.

How was she to get their relationship back on track, when there were so many exciting distractions and choices which held his attention, which didn’t include her?

Imaginary Order

Mothers: for nine months we are one, yet they remain a part of us, not apart from us, forever.

Told through the eyes of her daughter, Nani, Imaginary Order is the story of a mother’s psychological struggle to regain her life after a near fatal-accident. Their journey together, first to Switzerland, then Italy through to Amsterdam morphs into a redeeming story of self-discovery, independence, and the inevitable severing of the eternal child who hides within us all.